1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of illumination devices and, more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved lighting fixture which is movable along an elongated track support member and radially adjustable about two axes of rotation. In a preferred embodiment, the fixture is advantageously affixed to the side of a computer monitor to provide illumination for a work surface adjacent the computer monitor without interfering with or competing for the limited usable surface area of the work space environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of lighting fixtures are available in the related art for providing work surface illumination. These fixtures can be divided primarily into two classes: those which provide ambient or surrounding room lighting; and, those which provide direct illumination for a specific surface area. Fixtures which provide ambient light in offices and other work environments include a wide variety of overhead fixtures which generally employ fluorescent bulbs although sometimes filament and organo-metallic arc (such as metal halide) type lamps are used as well. Those fixtures which provide direct work surface illumination come in a wide variety of styles and shapes as well. The light sources for these fixtures include filament lamps and fluorescent tubes as well as halogen bulbs. While existing direct surface illumination devices are generally satisfactory for providing adequate light and may even employ a visually appealing support structure, the use of these fixtures poses a problem for current day work environments in that there often is insufficient space on the work surface for the fixture. This is especially true in today's office and engineering environment wherein a number of pieces of electronic equipment are competing for the same limited work surface. This has primarily come about due to the advent of the personal computer.
Rapid technological change brought about by the personal computer has significantly changed most present day working environments. We work today in highly automated electronic environments which bear little resemblance to the work places of the past. While many of us work at desks, unlike the desks of our predecessors, our desks are often dominated by computers and associated equipment in addition to conventional device such as phones and dictating machines.
The conventional computer monitor has come to dominate not only our attention but also the physical confines of the desk surface itself. Other computer peripherals have also successfully competed for desk top turf and won. These peripherals include items such as printers, disk drives, modems, multimedia speakers, scanners. The existing work surface must be divided among these devices in addition to dictating equipment, telephones and the like. It is remarkable that there is any space remaining on the surface of the desk for the tasks at hand.
Desks have come to grow appendages such as keyboard shelves, printer drawers, keyboard carrels and the like in an attempt to respond and adapt to the physical imposition of space which our new computing tools demand. The remaining space has become so precious in a working environment that illumination considerations have at worst often been totally ignored or at best simply become an afterthought. Conventional lamps either rest upon a base or are clamped via a base directly to the work surface. The lamp therefore competes for desk top space which is already scarce. Often times because of concerns of space the lamp loses this battle and is not even located on the desk. This is unfortunate because it encourages an unhealthy and wasteful energy practice.
Often to compensate for poor quality or even nonexistent work surface illumination, modern office planners simply add more general or "ambient" illumination to the office environment. This is undesirable in that it increases operational costs because of increased electrical consumption and it also results in over illumination which causes glare directed at the unfortunate office worker from the computer monitor's glass screen. This glare masks and obscures the underlying information contained within the monitors CRT screen forcing the user to squint and strain his or her eyes in order to read the computer screen.
Computing technology has not eliminated or reduced the consumption and use of paper, to the contrary, it is evident today that there is actually more paper used and generated by the office workers because making revisions to documents has become easier with the computer. Reading the information on this paper or taking information from objects directly and transcribing this information via the keyboard and monitor if performed under the above mentioned conditions of high glare, low intensity or otherwise poor illumination not only leads to decreased worker productivity but also results in eye strain and headaches as well as other short and long term negative health effects.
Because our desks are overfilled in no small part because of this new technology and because we still work with paper and other things which we need to view and examine and transcribe while we are at computers and because simply adding more overhead illumination is wasteful and actually deleterious to the work environment, there remains a need for an improved and adjustable task-illumination system which can provide enhanced illumination well as lower operating costs overall and energy consumption but which will not intrude into available desk or table space and be minimally intrusive into the work space.
It is thus a first object of the present invention to provide an improved lighting fixture which is capable of providing direct work surface illumination without interfering with or competing for the existing work surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved lighting fixture for a work surface which is sufficiently moveable and rotatable to direct the light from the fixture source toward any desired location on the work surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a work surface illuminating fixture which is slidable along a fixed mounting track and rotatable about at least one axis of rotation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lighting fixture which solves the above-mentioned problems related to providing adequate work surface illumination but which is also is easily manufactured and adjusted.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a lighting fixture which provides a visually appealing structure for the fixture.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following summary, and detailed description of the present invention in light of the drawings.